{"id":215,"date":"2011-10-31T12:00:06","date_gmt":"2011-10-31T12:00:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/danish\/?p=215"},"modified":"2014-08-06T18:25:02","modified_gmt":"2014-08-06T18:25:02","slug":"halloween-in-danish","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/danish\/2011\/10\/31\/halloween-in-danish\/","title":{"rendered":"Halloween in Danish"},"content":{"rendered":"

Today, the 31st of October, the hekse<\/strong> (witches) and sp\u00f8gelser<\/strong> (ghosts) have come out of the dark to haunt and terrorize mankind. No one is safe in the skove<\/strong> (forests) or the crooked gyder<\/strong> (alleys) of the small\u00a0landsbyer<\/strong> (villages). To protect themselves, people have carved grinning faces into orange gr\u00e6skar<\/strong> (pumpkins, the singular is the same), and placed the gr\u00e6skarlygter<\/strong> (jack-o\u2019-lanterns, literally \u2019pumpkin lamps\u2019) in front of their homes, stearinlys<\/strong> (stearin candles) flickering on passers-by from the pumpkins\u2019 eyes and jagged mouths. Pennsylvania? Nope, it\u2019s Denmark, 2011.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve been doing a bit of research<\/a>, and it seems like the American way of celebrating Halloween came to Denmark in the 1990\u2019ies. A lot of people complain that this is yet another proof that the Americanization of the Danish society has gone too far, and that Danish \u201dHalloween\u201d is really just a media stunt initiated by the supermarkeder<\/strong> so that they can sell a lot of leget\u00f8j<\/strong> (toys, collective plural) and kostumer<\/strong>. And true enough, it seems like the great supermarket chains were indeed responsible for bringing the Halloween package to Denmark back in the nineties. What the critics forget, though, is that Halloween isn\u2019t that<\/em> Un-Danish\u2026<\/p>\n

In middelalderen<\/strong> (the Middle Ages), when Denmark was Catholic, even Danes celebrated \u2019all-hallow-even\u2019 or\u00a0allehelgensaften<\/strong>, as it is properly called in Danish \u2013 the evening before allehelgensdag<\/strong> (\u201dall-hallow-day\u201d, day of all saints). This day, the 1st of November, was for all those helgener<\/strong> (saints) who didn\u2019t have their own day of celebration. As in modern Catholic countries, there was also an allesj\u00e6lesdag<\/strong> (day of all souls), the 2nd of November, where all those people who had died during the year were celebrated. In conjunction with reformationen<\/strong> (the 16th century Reformation, where Denmark officially switched from Catholic Christianity to Martin Luther\u2019s Protestantism), the two days were fused to one and moved to the first Sunday of November. It never really caught on among ordinary people.<\/p>\n

While church people try to link the imported Halloween to the traditional allehelgensaften<\/strong>, the common Danes seem to have taken this new tradition to their hearts. Danish children eagerly prepare jack-o\u2019-lanterns and disguise themselves as monsters.\u00a0Slik eller ballade!<\/strong> as the Danish take on \u2019trick or treat!\u2019 goes. After all, efter\u00e5ret<\/strong> (the autumn) can be quite dark and cold in Denmark, and Christmas is still far away\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\"\"

Today, the 31st of October, the hekse (witches) and sp\u00f8gelser (ghosts) have come out of the dark to haunt and terrorize mankind. No one is safe in the skove (forests) or the crooked gyder (alleys) of the small\u00a0landsbyer (villages). To protect themselves, people have carved grinning faces into orange gr\u00e6skar (pumpkins, the singular is the…<\/p>\n

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